Bonnie Gloris: Edison’s Idea Factory

The topic of our class this week is Developing the “Killer” Product Idea, and our assigned readings are full of useful tips about identifying winning business concepts that are worth pursuing. It all sounds very strategic and efficient. This got me thinking about the innovation process throughout history – in particular, about Thomas Edison, who pretty much took the opposite approach… 

Did you know that Edison holds 1,093 patents, which is still a record? He did not accomplish this by “creating exceptional utility at an attractive price,” as suggested by Kim and Mauborgne in the article Knowing a Winning Business Idea When You See One, but rather by setting up a veritable ‘idea factory’ in NJ, where he required his team of inventors to patent one small invention every ten days (all registered in his name).

To hear more about Edison and the patent process, listen to an episode of the podcast Stuff You Should Know, entitled “How Patents Work”: http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-patents-work/. You’ll want to skip to about halfway through the episode (34:22), which is where it gets interesting. Trust me – the only exciting thing discussed before that point is the fact that Mark Twain invented the elastic bra strap.

Edison’s strategy of constantly outputting until he hit on a good product must have something to it – Edison is still renowned as one of the all-time most prolific American inventors, and the devices he created, such as the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the electric light bulb, had a huge and lasting impact around the world. 

So, it seems there are two opposing strategies: relentlessly cranking out inventions – some of them are bound to catch on, right? – or taking the shrewd, methodical approach. Which strategy do you readers think has a greater chance of success?